novelraw Chapter 240: The Trainee Quarters, Incense Worship Becomes Divinity?
Chapter 240: The Trainee Quarters, Incense Worship Becomes Divinity?
Lin Xun did not rush to use the Easter Egg Bookmark or the Relic Bookmark.
The special event at No-Illusions Shrine to rescue his senior sister had already been delayed for too long.
The priority now was to go to No-Illusions Shrine to investigate. If everything went smoothly, he would gain the leverage to kill the Vice Palace Master of Iya Palace and thus obtain the Onmyoji Shell.
That would finally free him from the ‘anti-addiction mechanism’ at Iya Palace confining him during the daytime.
Besides, No-Illusions Shrine wasn’t a minor shrine like Ishiyama Shrine. There might even be the long-coveted healer miko shell there…
At the moment, the only unexplored place left in Dharma-Aspect Temple was the Trainee Quarters.
His compulsive nature compelled him to clear out the final location in Dharma-Aspect Temple before heading to No-Illusions Shrine.
Leaving the Five-Story Treasure Pagoda, he went straight to the Trainee Quarters.
[…]
[The yokai who served the Chaotic Origin Dragon in the temple were called Trainees, and the Trainee Quarters were where these yokai lived.][Behind the Lecture Hall, row upon row of shabby huts formed the Trainee Quarters.]
[You passed through the Lecture Hall and arrived before the ramshackle dwellings…]
[You picked a hut at random and stepped inside.]
[The furnishings were sparse. On the bed, a disheveled-haired woman knelt with her back to you, one hand holding a bronze mirror, the other a horn comb, as if grooming herself.]
[Strangely, her limbs were stiff and unmoving. Taking two steps closer, you glimpsed her reflection in the mirror.]
[Her face was deathly pale, twisted in a smile that revealed a mouth full of black, razor-sharp fangs.]
[At the head of the bed was a placard describing her: Yokai – Ao-onna (Moderately Dangerous). A shaggy-haired female yokai with a mouth of black teeth, fond of eating humans alive.]
[Every night, she holds a mirror to pretend she is combing her hair. If the reflection shows anyone other than her beloved, she will kill and devour them.]
[You examined her carefully from behind and discovered she was merely a lifelike polychrome statue, not a living creature.]
[You searched the hut thoroughly but found nothing.]
[With no choice, you left and headed for the next Trainee Quarters…]
[…]
Dharma-Aspect Temple had dozens of such quarters, all displaying yokai statues.
If the temple was like a zoo, with the Golden Hall housing live specimens, then the Trainee Quarters were where statues and taxidermy were displayed.
Other than the statues, none of the rooms contained any additional items.
After exploring for a long time, only the last room remained.
[At the end of the line of ramshackle huts was a somewhat larger Trainee Quarters. Judging by the size, it must have been the residence of the temple’s most senior Temple Master.]
[You strode up and pushed the door open…]
[Inside was yet another yokai statue. This one resembled an old man, his face deeply wrinkled, with heavy bags under his eyes.]
[The bald head was especially conspicuous, shaped into a bizarre squat gourd just like a juvenile Nurarihyon.]
[Beside it, a placard read: Yokai – Nurarihyon (Extremely Dangerous). A bald yokai with an oddly-shaped head, exceedingly skilled at exploiting human weakness and naturally devious.]
[If you encounter such a yokai, do not act rashly. Report immediately to the shogunate or shrine so that this demonic remnant can be exterminated.]
“So the Nurarihyon wasn’t only the temple’s guardian, it was also the Temple Master here.”
[You searched every corner of the room, and finally, atop a beam, you found a small, dusty incense burner.]
[Carefully brushing away the ash revealed its true form.]
[A bronze censer the size of a palm, its outer wall engraved with dragons coiling and leaping among the clouds, identical to the censer you obtained from the Calamity Mage.]
[You have obtained Coiling Cloud Dragon-Patterned Censer (Fine-Quality Item): an ancient bronze incense burner, its outer surface carved with dragons dancing amid clouds.]
[Using this item will slightly increase your Incense Power (Faith Energy).]
[You sensed the incense power within the censer and felt something strange.]
[This power was far less pure than that gained by burning incense to the Chaotic Origin Dragon, murky and impure.]
“So the censer the Calamity Mage acquired was a piece of junk, while mine is a fine-quality item.”
“Huh? This thing doesn’t have to be offered at a divine statue?”
Lin Xun noticed that, compared to regular incense sticks, the censer had reduced the mandatory usage conditions.
Ordinary incense items had to be offered before a specific deity, in other words, you had to burn them at the divine statue. But this little censer had no such requirement.
Meaning Lin Xun could use the item without seeing the Chaotic Origin Dragon or attracting the attention of the Extreme Delusion Fruit.
To be safe, he retraced his steps to the top of the Five-Story Treasure Pagoda, to the Resting Page.
He opened his inventory and activated the censer.
If, during use, he drew the Extreme Delusion Fruit’s gaze again, he could teleport out immediately, avoiding another incident like the one with the Extreme Evil Asura.
[You have used the Coiling Cloud Dragon-Patterned Censer…]
[Impure, polluted smoke billowed upward and burrowed straight into your body…]
[Your Calamitous Fallen Dragon Embryo stack has increased!]
[You have acquired the Sixth Stack of Calamitous Fallen Dragon Embryo!]
The game text stopped there and did not continue.
???
Lin Xun stared blankly.
What was this? Wasn’t it supposed to boost Faith Energy? Why had it upgraded Dragon Embryo Power instead?
Had this cursed game glitched again?
He vaguely remembered that the Calamity Mage had once said there were two ways to strengthen the Dragon Embryo: one, through arduous cultivation; two, by offering incense to the Chaotic Origin Dragon.
The first time he had burned incense, the smoke had drifted upward toward ‘a great being in the void,’ in other words, it had been an offering to the Chaotic Origin Dragon.
If the power had increased under those conditions, he wouldn’t have been surprised.
But this time, the strange censer’s smoke had flowed into himself…
He frowned in deep thought for a long time but couldn’t make sense of it no matter how he tried.
After hesitating for a while, he teleported back to Dragon Marsh Temple.
First, he went to look for the Dignitary Bull Demon.
In the yokai arts learning interface, there was a text display showing his current balance of Incense Power.
[…]
[Yokai Art – Art of Transmitting Voice (Rare+): Required Incense Power to learn: 400]
[Yokai Art – Art of Bringing the Dragon to Life (Rare+): Required Incense Power to learn: 700]
[You have absorbed unknown incense. Current Incense Power: 500]
Lin Xun shivered all over, overcome by the ecstatic feeling of having discovered a cheat code.
He could absorb incense!!
Didn’t this mean he could become a god through incense offerings?
For a moment, Lin Xun imagined all sorts of brazen schemes, like learning a petrification skill, disguising himself as a statue on an altar, and pretending to be some deity to accept worship offerings…
But then he reconsidered, would this cursed game really leave such an obvious bug lying around?
For now, the only benefit from absorbing incense had been increasing the Dragon Embryo. Whether there were other effects still had to be verified by collecting more strange censers.
“I’d better track down a few more censers and see…”
Lin Xun then ran off to the Calamity Mage to ask for information.
Unfortunately, the Calamity Mage was still poring over materials sleeplessly and hadn’t uncovered anything useful.
As for the Calamity Mage’s little censer, it was a worthless scrap, most likely the incense inside had already been depleted and no longer had any enhancing effect.
The newly acquired deposit of 500 Incense Power was only enough to learn a mediocre skill like the Art of Transmitting Voice. He still needed another 200 points to study the Art of Bringing the Dragon to Life.
Seeing no further progress to be made in Dragon Marsh Temple, he teleported back to the Five-Story Pagoda.
“Next up, I’ll head to No-Illusions Shrine to rescue my senior sister…”